Soundmagic ES20 In Ear Sound Isolating Earphones - Black

These are absolutely excellent earphones, even more so considering the price.I currently own Sennheiser HD598s and JBL LSR305s, I'm an audiophile and I love a balanced sound signature. I have also previously owned the Soundmagic E10s and E50s.These ES20s are absolutely excellent for the money. They're remarkably balanced, there is a slight lack of mids and a little too much bass for my liking, but nothing egregious whatsoever.They're fast with transients, metal and fast-paced rock is handled with ease. Jazz and classical is well rendered (if a little harsh in places due to the slight exaggeration in the highs).Pop music also exhibits a little bit of harshness, but that's largely down to the brickwall mastering, rather than the earphones themselves.TESTING SETUP:I'm using a Motorola G9 power with 320kbps MP3s.I also tested on a desktop PC with an SMSL SD793ii amp/dac, FLAC playback.(Just to note, I could detect very little difference between the G8 and PC setup, I imagine due to these earphones being extremely easy drive).Deadmau5's "Strobe", punches hard in the kicks and bass, with tight, well-rendered transients. Although these earphones are on the bassier side, they never exaggerate it to the point of distortion, it's almost always tight and punchy.Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" is well presented, with a small amount of harshness in the high end (nothing that a 6khz -2db EQ cut won't fix), but pleasant spaciousness and good soundstage for IEMs.Eminem's "Criminal" has great low end, tight but impactful. This is where the mids do lack somewhat, but it's not a big deal at all, EQ could also likely improve this too. The eadphones handle the quicker beat well, with very little sibilance (despite the album being quite harsh in the high end).The Who's "Baba O'Riley", sounds absolutely fantastic through these. Good bass prescense and solid soundstage (particularly at the start).The first piano hit is impactful and tight, and the guitars hit with enough force and tone.Overall, these are phenomenal earphones for the money. I would have happily paid £50 for these, they're that good. They're tonally balanced, fairly neutral and respond well to EQ. They also feel pretty well built.They're not the most comfortable IEM's I've ever had, but they're definitely wearable for an hour at a time.The only criticism I would have, is that there's a slight V-shape sound signature, with less mids than I would like and occasional harshness in the high end.For £17 you'd be utterly mad not to get these.

Hello, I have recently purchased these earphones on Amazon. I have own two SoundMagic products in the past. They were the E10 1st gen and the E10C. My first product was E10 1st gen and I was very pleased with them and just over 6 months later they broke. Amazon was very helpful and gave me a full refund. Then I bought the E10C and I was super happy with the build quilty, accessories and most important sound quality. They have rich bass, amazing soundstage and clarity between the lows, mids and highs.Sadly I lost them and was very disappointed that I lost €50 earphones. I searched the internet for a new pair of low budget earphones and looked at different brands such as Sony, SoundMagic, RHA and many more. This was at the time of when the SoundMagic E11 and E11C were released. Immediately they caught my eye and was thinking ob buying them. They do come with a €60 price tag so I was rather hesitant to buy them because I might lose them.I decided to look at even cheaper options around €20 and see what I could get for that kind of money. I finally decided to buy these and I can not be happier with any other pair of earphones. I paid €30 shipped for these and they are worth every cent.The audio is crisp with distinction between all the different notes although they can get a little tinny at the high notes. The soundstage is immersive and sounds not quite a concert but a recording studio. They have rich punchy bass and you can really feel the bass in the music.Because of their design, the earbuds really stick in your ear and block out the background noise. I had to change to the biggest rubber tip to really get them to get into my ear canals and block out the noise. They don't block out all the noise but most.They are also really loud drivers. I played music on my iPhone 7 on Tidal Master music to really get the best of sound and only on the first bar of volume I could not hear my family in the background. I normally listen on the third bar of volume and that is my preferred because I can still hear cars when I'm walking or when a person talks to me.One bad side is that these have a lot of cable noise when you touch the cable and the earbuds are in your ear. Overall, they are great for the money and I am really happy with my purchase. They have some issues but for €20 what can you expect. I would definitelyag buy from SoundMagic again.

The Soundmagic E10 with its straight, non-L shaped jack plug has lasted well used with iPod when walking; mainly speech, some music. But I found its sound scratchy and flat so as a backup decided to try the ES20 which also has a straight jack. Comparing the two directly, the ES20 has more bass and is less scratchy/tinny. And for about half the price.The only negative (imo) so far is the odd-angled earbuds which presumably are so designed to reduce ambient noise but which I find no more effective for that than the E10's conventional shaped earbuds.Can't yet comment on longevity but hoping the straight jack plug will be as resilient as that on the E10.EDIT 2021-08-15 Used daily since purchase and still going strong. No change to review except the cable/lead is 12-18" too long necessitating use of clips/gathers to stop it catching on things.